Amazon’s Alexa to Speak Spanish in the U.S.

May 1, 2019

Amazon

Amazon has launched a new voice model for Alexa that lets developers build a Spanish-language interface for Spanish-speaking users. The company announced that the model will initially be available to an invite-only preview program for U.S. Spanish-speaking users, although it plans to roll out the complete program to all U.S. Echo users later in the year. The preview program aims to give Amazon a better understanding of Spanish-language word choice and local humor.

The model that developers are working on uses Amazon’s ‘Alexa Skills Kit’, and can be adopted by other manufacturers for their products. While Developers can already write skills for Spanish for devices in Spain and Mexico, this is the first time that it will be available in the U.S.

The Alexa blog announced that any manufacturers hoping to use “Alexa Built-in” products for Spanish-speaking users can request early access to a related Voice Services developer preview. Many third-party devices that rely on Alexa, such as Bose, Sony, and Facebook will also release Alexa-built in devices later this year.

Last summer, Google Home extended their services to have support in Spanish in addition to launching their devices in Spain and Mexico. Apple has also added Spanish support for their users in the U.S., launching Spanish for HomePod in the U.S., Spain, and Mexico in September 2018.